Former Police Officer Describes Territorial Defense Detention Facilities in Luke and Rapatnica
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Ekrem Ibracevic, Faruk Smajlovic and Sejdalila Covic, have been charged with abusing and torturing Serb civilians on the premises of a local community center in Rapatnica as well as a stadium in Luke in 1992.
Ibracevic was the chief of military security with the Municipal Headquarters of the Territorial Defense in Srebrenik, while Smajlovic and Covic were military police officers.
Ibro Ibric, who joined the reserve police force as a retired police officer at the beginning of the war, testified at today’s hearing. He said he knew of two cases in which Serb civilians were held in detention.
“There was a room in a local community building in Luke which was used for holding people. It was organized by the military police. In the village of Rapatnica there was a room for holding people who ignored military calls for mobilization or committed certain offences,” Ibric said.
Ibric said a person who used to work with the state security service told him that an acquaintance of his named Stokan had been detained. He said a former Serb colleague of his named Rade Jovanovic had also been detained.
“I heard he was also taken to Luke. Half of those premises belonged to the local community and the other half to the club,” Ibric said.
He told the court he didn’t go to Luke, but he knew that a police station had been located there.
Zlata Hogic, a nurse who used to work in the Srebrenik health centre, also testified at today’s hearing.
She said she didn’t know about the detention facilities in the area. She said she didn’t go to any of the detention facilities to provide medical assistance to the detainees. She said she never heard that any of her colleagues went to the detention facilities to provide medical assistance to the detainees.
She said she didn’t come across information on the detention centers in any protocol registries. Hogic did however confirm that during the investigation she was presented with an internal document which contained the names of employees of the Srebrenik health centre.
The trial will continue on September 29.
